Nap alarm to tickle dozing workers

Do you doze off while studying? For students who are sleep-deprived and tend to steal forty winks at a time when they should be concentrating hard on their books to beat competition, there is help in sight.

Do you doze off while studying? For students who are sleep-deprived and tend to steal forty winks at a time when they should be concentrating hard on their books to beat competition, there is help in sight.

A Japanese, Kozo Samizo, has come up with a nap alarm, which when fixed to the ear, buzzes when wearer's head nods forward. The buzzing causes a ticklish sensation, thereby casting out the alpha waves which cause sleepiness.

Few Japanese sleep more than six hours a night and it is common to see whole rows of office workers fast asleep on commuter trains. Japanese politicians are notorious for sleeping in parliament, while 'salary men' frequently doze during interminable meetings in offices where long hours are the norm.

Samizo invented the device which costs nine pounds, after he dozed off while driving and crashed into a stationary car. The device was initially used by taxi and truck drivers.

Now, it has even been ordered for trainee Zen monks who meditate for hours. Can the exam-weary students in India hope for some relief too?